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My mother was in Real Estate for decades. She said the same thing you are. Use neutrals so that the buyers can imagine their own furniture in the house. Or they can imagine how they might upgrade their old look to something new in a new house. It's all about their imagination. She also said south facing rooms should have a cool colored neutral and north facing rooms should have a warm colored neutral. Why? Northern light is cool coming into the room, and southern light is warmer coming into the room, so you want the opposite to warm up a cool room or cool down a warm room. I think east and west light is whatever works for you. Also, that's the power of complimentary colors, being colors that are opposite of each other on the color wheel. Artist use these concepts all the time. I'm an artist. Thanks for the great video.
We have sold our homes over the past 30 years and have ALWAYS gotten top offers. We follow model home guidelines. Neutral warm colors, NO personal pix or items, clear ALL clutter, hide trash cans, put out fresh flowers, use essential oils like lemon or orange, play soft music, make sure ALL lights are on, ceiling fans on low. And make sure it is CLEAN!
Fantastic advice!! One thing I will add is to make sure bathrooms are clear as well. Toilet seats down, no shampoo bottles out, etc. People don't like dirty homes!
@@KatiSpaniak We once toured a home that may have been staged, but it was weird because it looked like they intentionally left a cup of coffee and cash on the counter in the master bath. Another home was a rental, and both the current tenant and her landlord were present when we toured the home. The house didn't exactly read as dirty, but it wasn't exactly clean either. The biggest turn-off was when we looked at one of the bathrooms, and the lid of the toilet was up, and they left a toilet bowl full of urine for us to analyze. 😳🤔😵💫 Both homes happened to be in Maryland.
I totally agree. I cannot believe the amount of sellers who not only do not clean, they don't make their beds or do up dirty dishes. Makes me wonder why the realtor would post those pictures.
In one of your videos you said that a home is now a product when you sell. This was the mind shift I needed when we had to sell our parents’ house and it will help me when we decide to sell our own home.
I am glad you mentioned this point. Just hearing it has not fully brought me out of my emotions surrounding selling my home. I do not know when, but I am sure I need to be ready to sell, since life has had so many changes over a several year time frame, and more are on the horizon. Whenever I end up selling, I want to be ready. Thinking of my home as a product, has helped me start to think of how I want it to be for myself too, now, everyday. When I walk into my home, I want it to feel easy, easy to make changes, in decor, in prep to sell. Thank you for your comment. Lisa, in Virginia.
@@lisafeck1537 Truly insightful comment! Nicely articulated! Yes, having an authentic relationship with your home, an intimate knowledge of it and why you are attached to it and feel one with it, would seem to impede making changes with a clinical eye to sell. But in reality, the mindset of being one with your home actually makes it easier to let go...by a wonderful dialectical interplay of an emotion turning into its opposite.
I closed on a house last week and I knew the paint color as soon as I walked into that house: Sherwin Williams Repose Grey. Honestly, I love the house, but I don't love that paint color. As a buyer, I HATE GREYS. I'm going to be listing my current house, doing some painting first, I'll be using a warm white, no grey for me. I can't be the only one turned off by grey.
I HATE grey as well. I’ve seen some homes for sale with new grey carpet and walls. Too dreary and depressing for me. Reminds me of a gloomy, rainy day. I prefer warmer tones.
@@kabodick I remember going to Sante Fe and there being many intense colors inside homes. I've lived in my home for over 25 years and I've enjoyed a "jewel toned" pallette which was a thing in the 1990's. Once I changed a room to the color I like I stay with it. Enjoy your life!
Agree! Also sometimes you can change out your light bulbs to a higher Kelvin to tone down the yellow walls to get a more neutral beige. Easy fix rather than repainting.
I pay more attention to the flooring in the house. Repainting is a pain but not that big a deal. Redoing the floor, that is a big deal. So that photo with carpet in the dining room I was much more worried about the carpet that I was the paint color. But again, maybe I’m just weird.
My agent told us not to bother to paint (and several of my rooms definitely did not have neutral colors, one was actually red and yellow). We had 13 showings and 2 offers above asking in 7 days. Definitely talk to your agent before painting!
Bought an eclectic Victorian in a short sale after it had sat on the market for 8 months. It had neutral white walls & gray wall to wall carpet in every room. We sold it a few years later with colorful paint & wallpaper & restored hardwood floors. In a bidding war in 1 month.
@acarroll, That's probably because there may be a lot of buyers looking to 'flip' the property in your area, not necessarily to live there themselves. 😋
Everytime I see a home painted gray on HGTV/DIY I think “oh yeah, I really want to live in a WWII submarine”! That’s what most gray paint colors remind me of, and I just can’t get past that thought.
Agreed! Way too institutional! They painted my newly renovated apt. walls a light/medium gray. How depressing! Makes rooms look smaller and you need more lamps. And gray vinyl plank flooring to boot. I liked the white walls and lot easier to repaint with the same.
I absolutely hate the grays! I have lived in Ohio and WV my whole life and the sky is gray all winter long. Why on earth would I want gray walls? So depressing.
It depends of the house, location and now, the market. We sold my 90 year old mother’s house last year. Peeling wallpaper, vinyl floors. We were planning on removing the paper and painting. Realtor said not to bother. It’s a grandma house and nothing is going to change that. We got 34 offers in 1 week and sold it for 45k over asking.
Agreed. I would buy a vintage home that hasn't been 'modernized'. they are a rarity and command a premium price. Some people like this You Tube poster don't understand this.
@@l.5832, The problem with all this "seller'' advice is, it's just a TREND! Personally, I'm with you on the sturdier build__it's easier, and less expensive, to do superficial interior rehab than to do foundational work. 😬😋😺
Same here! I hated grey when it first came in, I hate it even more now. Bought a house last week, it has grey paint that I hate. About to list my other house now, will do some painting first in soft white.
I'm co owner of a real estate company for the past 25 years, and now is a crazy time in the business! We have the highest inflation in 40 years and interest rates that means your buyers have to make 80% more income than four years ago! So be patient, because most Americans don't make that kind of money! Now it depends in California we pay the most for everything. In a less populated state it will take longer to sell. In the past it was easier on people to buy, but this administration isn't budging on the interest rates! And people aren't able to refinance right now because it doesn't make sense too!
@@stardustgirl2904 Thank you for your words of wisdom. Im fortunate enough to live in an area where the homes continue to sell within a week or two of listing - central Florida. We have many Californians coming here that have the cash to buy homes that are moderately priced (in comparison to CA). I ready for the long haul just the same. Thank you!
I can't argue with the logic in this video. As a home owner and artist, I LOVE bold saturated colors. But I remember when I was looking to buy my first home, I was more drawn to home interiors that were painted white or off white. Light shades make everything feel like a fresh blank canvas.
Exactly, bright neutral lighting, (not too yellow and not too sterile white), complimentary furniture and accent colors that pop make or break a room. Every space needs to feel clean, spacious, and not suffocating or oppressive, which is why light, neutral paint colors are the ideal without having to go all the way to a vacant, absence of color, (like white or "Builder's Beige"). Going white or light beige all too often makes a room feel bare and unfinished, instead of clean and spacious. Anyone who has worked in clothing/fashion knows how personal color preference is to potential buyers, so those bold, vibrant, rich, saturated colors the seller chose to paint their walls are their own personal taste, which is automatically going to turn more people off than a fresh, neutral, color palette will.
@@katydid2877 I mean I presume different parts of the world operate differently, but the majority of the U.S, U.K and Canada do paint and/or renovate their houses both inside and outside, (i.e: "curb appeal"). It's a $$ investment that adds to the house's resale value, (so whatever is spent on renovations needs to actually add value to the house or it's a wasted investment).
The only decent thing my ex-slumlord ever did was to paint everything in his slummy apartment complex Navajo White. It was a nice change from the usual stab-your-eyes-out Operating Room White all landlords have felt mandatory for decades. It was soft and easy to look at while we froze to death.
A tip: make sure you're not partially color-blind before you make a major investment in painting a whole house inside or outside. I truly believe some of the builders and house flippers don't see how muddy and NOT neutral the grey paints they've been using are. I didn't know how common this is till I worked in an airport job screening facility, where a good 50 percent of the male applicants came up partially color blind.
I don't know if it's because the decorator was color-blind lol, but our daughter has a new house in Dallas and I have seen many homes done by the same builder and all of them are painted a warm-ish greige BUT to me it's so not neutral---it's got a pink/salmon undertone. Yes, it "matches" the greige pink-ish standard tile they are using in all their bathrooms but, blech! And it doesn't match the standard flooring they install in their spec-houses either, because the floor is a pretty strongly gray-colored LVP that's not warm enough for the wall color.
@legalavocado3447 When gray became a "thing" it was sort of interesting at first, but it got to the point, for me, pretty quickly, that it was dull, boring, and unpleasant. To me, living in such a gray home would have felt like living in a black & white TV show where the fullness and richness of life is only hinted at because it doesn't exist within the confines of the home, it's somewhere just beyond it - outside of the doors and windows. It's a little reminiscent of the film, "The Wizard of Oz," where Dorothy's real life and comfort zone is a sepia-toned world, but all of the real excitement and adventure she experienced was made richer and more vibrant through the magic of technicolor. But when she returned to the familiar and comforting things in life that were the most important to her, back she went to her sepia-toned life. It's interesting, because the pandemic brought a lot of the gray tones with it, creating homes that, for me, felt like they had the life sucked right out of them. But for some of the people I came across who gravitated towards the gray and often minimalist look in their homes, they really NEEDED that. That WAS their comfort zone. They could not handle color because it was over-stimulating to them. It's been interesting, over time, to watch as people's perspectives have changed, how the homes they live in have changed too, and how that sometimes translates as bringing more color into their homes. It doesn't just exist as something outside and somewhere, over the rainbow anymore. But you have to play to all of the crowds and preferences when selling, and so, we neutralize... 😉 A lot of builders are still stuck in that gray comfort zone.
I was never a fan of the gray craze, especially after it rolled over everything like a gloomy cloud. After a while, I would see a room in a magazine or TV show and it looked to me very much like a scary stage set for a play, or a haunted house fun ride, where the set designer comes in and just spray-paints everything gray. @@charmc4152
I am repainting in greige. I will paint myself though. I redid my house 12 years ago and hired a painter. Biggest mistake ever! I was so mad! My father was a professional painter and taught me. It tajes me longer but I know it will be perfect when I’m finished. I will use the thousands I save to either buy new furniture or go on a vacation!
I just painted my living room, dining room and hallway, "greige" actually "Dove" eggshell from Home depot. It changes from a light beige to a light gray depending on lighting. Therefore, it matches everything. I had a party last weekend. Everyone knew I had painted, but no one said, "I love it." It just doesn't elicit an emotional reaction, but it is calm and comforting.
I've been doing a full poster board with a prospective color and move it around for at least a week to see the effects of changing natural light and how it goes with various pieces of furniture. It has saved me thousands.
In Texas it is white with all black fixtures. They rip off the architectural elements and paint the exterior white with black trim too and call it a "farmhouse." I've almost cried a couple of times.
We're looking at houses and so many people have put gray laminate floors with gray walls. We won't even go look at them. I'd have to rip it all out. Gray doesn't seem neutral to us at all.
It’s depressing. I will always associate it with Covid lockdowns. Color is in for most people but it can be tricky. Warm whites are my favorite, like vanilla ice cream.
Yes! I am looking to downsize to a preferably 2 bedroom cottage, when I see something I like, exterior-wise, the interior has those awful gray floors, that ends it for me.
That’s funny I had just picked white dove for a possibility in my own house. I do like it. My house has a strange color thing where most normal whites don’t work.
I had a new construction home in 2018 and our whole paint selection was Agreeable Gray and I personally loooved it. It looked so great in all the different lightings/shadows. It was really nice. Our house sold super fast because it was warm and inviting. I still think for my future house I want Agreeable Gray again. I miss it. 😂
That’s what we chose after buying an older home that was last updated in 2008 with yellow pee and brown yuck paint (I called them diaper colors). We tried 8 different greys. Agreeable grey was perfect! I love it. Works with everything.
@nowyouknowrealestate5703 2008, the Tuscan influence was still en vogue, and the style trends went with the golds, browns, reds, and overall warmth, as well as the more Old World, heavy, overstuffed, darker designs. Color trends seemed to evolve towards a darker spectrum from there, at first, before lightening up overall, and moving into the gray period which seemed to hit its zenith during the pandemic.
This is really market dependent. Where I'm at outside of Houston about half of the buyers want an all white interior and the other half cringe when they see that. There are a lot of people here sick to death of white and grey. In the places like MS and LA, people trend more toward color and even wallpaper. The reality is that no matter what color your walls are, some people are going to hate them and some are going to love them. I would avoid dark or bold colors, but otherwise not worry about it.
It makes sense to paint the house all in white because it will allow the buyers to paint in a color to personalize it to their taste and sense of decor.
I have to agree. I think it's more important to focus on the staging details pointed out in these videos. As long as the house has one neutral color throughout and no various dark colors in each room, I wouldn't bother painting unless the walls need painting, not just a color change. I saw many beautifully staged homes that were not white or grey back when I was looking for a home. Actually, I was one of those people who did cringe when I saw a home with white or grey walls. I didn't like the kitchen all white in the first example. I prefered the warm color walls. All white reminds me of a hospital but that's my opinion.
@@nutritioncoachjo yes! I call it “dental office style”. Not inviting, not warm, not “homey”. I find that people who work a lot and are seldom home seek an easy-to-clean, sterile home that copies whatever is the current trend, while people who are more into “slow-living” and spend time at home like to create a warm, inviting, personalized home that feels like an enchanted sanctuary. I personally don’t ever want to “come home” to a dentist office or operating room look!
I can change any color , but what is very important to me is : How old is the roof and the electric wiring . What is the floor made off and how good are the windows ? What size is the lot and location etc. 🌲🏡🌳😄
You are recalling "COLORFORMS", from our childhood. If I had a bit of extra $ I would buy a big set of Colorforms -- I adored, ADORED playing with those. I can see and feel them, in my hands, today. I'm 71, we are speaking of 59 years ago.. YAY COLORFORMS.
I am going to be selling my 1839 house, and because it is historic, it has historic colors. If a buyer is put off because the colors are not neutral, then frankly they need not buy my house.
I love the idea of historic colours in historic houses, it looks so right, especially with at least a few antiques of the period, also wallpaper copies of period wallpapers.
Same here....I am about to put my 1920 house on the market. I have chosen neutral warm colors. It would look horrible in white on white! I think an older home looks much better with historical colors, and warmer tones.
Well done. I love older houses, but I hate when owners try to make them "trendy" when they're already timeless. It reminds me of Beetlejuice when the couple comes in and decorates the old farmhouse with modern art. Yuck.
@@emmaschauer5409 haha I have thought many times of the "Beetlejuice" analogy when looking at some of these formerly beautiful older homes. And can we just stop removing all of the walls in old homes, please? :)
Realtor flipped house two doors down, did grey walls etc. it has sat there for months. Average sale time in my neighborhood is three days. Be very careful what you do.
Grey.... cement grey. Lovely. Some people see a grey house and think... "I am going to have to paint everything", I see grey and think YIKES!!! For more that 20 years grey has been pushed.
@@TheSwissChalet ... Exactly ! I think kids were brainwashed to prefer no color. Interesting to me is when I look at Architectural Digest with most expensive homes few are white and grey. Kim Kardashian did all white and stark. Trying to make her followers think "this is cool"... no color, no beauty.
I guess I’m just weird, but when I look at houses online, I actually am drawn to the ones with color. For instance, that first kitchen you shown, I hated the yellow curtains, but I liked the yellow paint. I guess I’m just strange. maybe I just get tired of seeing white on white on white with a little bit of gray thrown out on top of some more gray.
I agree. I’m drawn to the ones with color…provided they are well chosen colors that harmonize with each other. Seeing all the white, and grey, grey, grey, grey…a million shades of grey…I think “why do people intentionally take all the charm out of their homes?”.
@@vicz8899 it wasn’t an issue when I bought my house. I just depends on the person. But if you’re trying to please the masses, then you have to go with the board in white.
I did my whole first floor, foyer, upper staircase area and upstairs hallway in Canvas Tan by Sherwin Williams. This is the best neutral I ever found and it goes with all decorating colors.
I bought a house in 2020 that had a lime green kitchen and a pumpkin orange master bedroom . All the remaining rooms were grey beige or white and i repainted all of those with colors. I bought this house the same day it went on the market
When my husband and I were looking for a house in a "quaint" area, the kitchen had lime green wall tile that was so "loud" it literally gave me a headache. I loved the house, but the kitchen tile killed that sale.
The reason the tan colors sell so well is because they are the color of sand on the beach. The beach is somewhere we go to relax. It is a very calming color. Life is so stressful that we need to regroup and relax in our homes in order to face the world.
Hi, I painted houses to prep for sale for years and I agree with your color suggestions. Not so much the sheens though. Living rooms, diningrooms, bedrooms, and hallways should be flat. Eggshell cheapens the look of those rooms and gives them a rental look. Bathrooms, laundry rooms and kitchens are best in eggshell. Semi-gloss for trim is great. Satin on trim is beautiful. So, agree with that ❤ Also, YES, hire a professional.
I hate flat paint. It's totally impractical if you have children or pets and have to live in the house for a while before it sells. It does look nice, but it's impractical for real people actually living in a home. If you have dogs, you're going to get a "dog line" along the walls in the hallway and staircases really quick with flat paint because the oils in the hair will be absorbed by the paint.
@@charmc4152I've lived in a two-story home with mostly flat paint for over twenty years. Raised three children, two dogs and two cats. Quality flat paint cleans just fine, never a problem, except crayons, of course. ;)
As a designer, one of the best colours I found is Benjamin Moore’s Revere Pewter, it’s warm and changes subtly with different light conditions. I always go with matte finish on the walls and eggshell for trim, not too glossy but gives a nice sheen. It’s classic and not brash. I find semi gloss can accentuate flaws more.
Did my home same color very bright home big windows door wall glass . Looks different in every room all day long some days. He looks like a very lightly lavender. Sometimes a little bit peachy . I love it made the home cheerful kitchen cabinets are light med gray looks awesome .WE HAVE Aquariums large ones in most room so that color really makes the tanks stand out
Couldn't agree with you more! When we sold are parents home, we paid the money to paint the home a very neutral off white. The realtor was thrilled and the house showed very well.
We are house-hunting and are frequently turned off by the flooring choices, esp gray LVP and flooring that is way too patterned. We just see that as the first thing to replace.
I so agree with you on the gray floors! Enough already! And some of these homes have everything gray -floors, walls, kitchen cabinets, to the point where the photos look like a black and white photo - literally no color anywhere! Yikes!
I'm a firm believer in getting samples before painting. Lighting changes the way the color looks so each wall may appear to be a differet hue. Also, light bulbs matter and the amount of natural light in the room. The color also varies depending on what it butts up to. A very white trim will make even a very light color seem darker.
@@KatiSpaniak Thanks Kati. I forgot to mention that I get the 1 quart sized sample paints from Sherwin Williams so that I can paint an area on every wall, then observe the results for night and daytime. I've been visiting your channel often as I'm getting ready to sell in a couple of years. I like your advice and approach. Thanks for what you do.
We did most of our interiors in this combo, and we have loved it ever since. We get compliments all the time. Our dining room we did in Ben Moore Phillipsburg Blue and it goes SO well with the Revere Pewter and White Dove. We love it.
My client has paint on the walls and she got 10% over asking. Also depends on how well you price the house. There are a lot of factors that go into it but cleaning it up the house, getting the clutter out and the right price is essential.
Looks like your client painted their way to a higher asking price! Who knew a little color could bring in the big bucks? Agree on the how well to price the house!!
I decided to sell my home myself a year ago. I got a fantastic coaching package deal online with a firm offering coaching, professional photos with 360 video, help writing description, and most importantly, filtering potential clients. We paired everything down, changed the flooring upstairs and staged it. We had 30 visits , several offers and a sale within 2 weeks. All for 720 euros. Of course I did the visits myself but I knew the house best!
@@KatiSpaniak yep it is a great color, however no matter what color you paint half will like it and half won't. So unless you have painted walls purple, lime green, hot pink etc. Leave it alone.
My house was completely done in that 1970's dark wood cheap paneling. Painting it works wonders and keeps it easy to wash down. I used a satin or semi gloss. I myself would never paint real wood paneling like knotty pine because real wood is always timeless and beautiful and most people love it.. 😊
And maybe be the buyer who can see past the paint. I was that buyer. The one who bought a house a little lower in price than average and was painted light pink, yes, light pink in the entire great room and main bedroom suite. Right after the sale closed, I went to the hardware store and got three gallons of neutral paint (about $200), hired a handyman (less costly than a painter ($500 vs. $2000). Now the house looks really great!
When we sold our house in Texas, we used Amazing Gray from Sherwin Williams and switched all our lightbulbs to daylight bulbs. The pictures online were so good, my kids said they were clickbait. We sold the house in 3 days.
I totally agree with the sample photos of the kitchens you displayed the second photo look was more modern. I have painted my kitchen a pumpkin orange it goes well with the cabinets and black appliances the Kitchen is an open space there is no wall to separate the kitchen from my dining and living room area. But I do need a professional to come in and repaint it, so the lines are straight. I used painter's tape, and it didn't come out perfect. I painted my master bedroom a neutral color without the tape, and it came out much better. My home has neutral colors the guest bedroom is grey with white ceiling and the second bedroom is turn into an office painted all white. Yes, Semi-Gloss is better to clean in case of dust or marks. When I invited some friends over one of ladies thought I had my home staged to sale. Love your channel and your great advice.
have bought or built 7 homes in our 42 years together...sold 6. All six sold in less than 10 days, full asking price...and painted...GASP earth colors, browns and greens. the 4 homes we purchased already built...if we walked in and the walls and cabinets were white...we walked right out...no matter how great the price ...I cant stand white on white on white...it looks cold to me. The plus side, when we got back into this house, which was actually our first and we had used as a rental for 30 plus years, all we had to do was walk into HD, same colors we have used on every single house...and done in a day . As to staging...we are pretty minimal, so there is never stuff around...Our kitchen is a working kitchen, it is huge with plenty of space, but there is always something on a counter, be it a dehydrator, freeze dryer, canner..I honestly think a lot of buyers realized how much counter real estate we had simply because of that... Biggest turn offs as buyers...again, white on white, cigarette odor (and we use a fireplace for heat...big difference) personal items, and dirty baseboards...weird, but if you cant dust the baseboards down every now and then...what else has not been maintained.
I’ve never understood the appeal of white kitchen cabinets - to me that look is just really boring! If someone has white cabinets on a sterile cool-white wall, even worse. I’m very glad that it’s the warm whites and grieges that are more popular now than cool neutrals. I saw one otherwise nice house in a great location that was painted a cool light blue inside - it really turned me off - almost made me shudder with the cold feeling it gave off! think most people feel more comfortable and relaxed in a home with warm neutrals on the majority of the walls. Dark colors do tend to make a room look smaller, which is also a factor. If you really want deeper colors in a room, keep it to just one wall so that it’s not overpowering. I personally love deep colors as accents, but I know I’m a bit unusual in my taste (my kitchen cabinets are cherry wood, which I love, love love!).
I have been a buyer, seller and real estate agent and what you are saying is so true! Any time I have ever bought a home I have been looking at what the immediate changes are that I am going to have to do and it starts adding up in a buyers mind, when that cost gets too high, they will move on and so would I. The purchase of a home anymore is so extremely high and if I am going to live there, I may not have the money immediately to do all the painting to cover over the orange or red walls that go with absolutely nothing. If you are of the mindset that the buyer is going to repaint anyway, you are probably right but do not expect to get top dollar because with every room that has to be painted, the buyer is dropping the price they are willing to pay. Most buyers would purchase a house with every room painted white, than to walk into a colorful home with every wall a different color. That color or lack of, translates into cleanliness and organization in their minds which they are more likely to go for.
I bought my house because of it's location, the size of the property, the solid build of the house itself and the quality of the windows, flooring, heating system, roof and foundation. The last thing on my mind were thr popcorn ceilings...which I actually love...or the color of the paint or kitchen cabinets. 🤣🤣 I love the soft, light beige on the walls and the warm pine kitchen cabinets...very welcoming on a bitter, cold winter day, but still cool-feeling on hot summer days. The house has a lot of glass, so when the sun shines in, the rooms are bathed in a warm glow. Got the selling price down because of wall to wall carpeting that covered an unfinished sub floor in the master.bedroom and two neglected parquet floors in the upstairs bedrooms. Had an oak floor put into the master bedroom and had the parquet floors refinished...and they look beautiful! Regardless of the color of the paint inside, the price of my house has doubled since I bought it several years ago, so I can afford the 'luxury' of enjoying any interior colors that I like and still come out ahead of the game.
Totally agree. Paint color influenced my home buying decision when I was in my 30s. Its silly in retrospect, because I could have just painted: but it seemed daunting at the time. I ended up buying a home in neutrals that was move in ready. Today, I have some color on the walls as I plan on staying for a long time.
Gray (vinyl looking) flooring and gray walls are an instant scroll past for me. If I see white walls throughout a home, I feel myself mentally relax - like letting out a relaxed sigh. Have sold several of our past homes with neutral paint (including inside and out), and neutrals just work.
If I see one more listing with gray walls, cabinets, and floors!! I seriously think I am looking at a black and white photo void of color. It's just ugh for me.
I absolutely agree that neutral is best. I can appreciate the rooms with color but not when I’m buying. It looks staged to match their life not mine. I may live with beige or off white for years and not feel the urge to put anything on the walls. I am interested in structure and overall cleanliness.
40 years ago the one splurge we allowed was to have the house painted before we moved in. We choose eggshell for walls, but didn’t have enough money for the trim. There was a discount for cash. We have since painted different colors for our daughter’s room as she grew for example. I’ve also worked on painting trim and doors. We still live here and I am glad that we made decisions to paint and carpet, etc to what we wanted to enjoy and not live the entire time with an eye to reselling. But those colors will go if we do choose to resell.
You’re very clear and very helpful! OF COURSE your instructions are to help “sell!!” That’s what we need and expect! I appreciate your clarity and expertise! Just found you and subscribed!!
I don’t know if bc we are in California that things are so different. But sometimes I feel like the tips are off according to what is in. I did like the 5 conditions or levels of houses. But so many folks are so sick of builder grade and white kitchens. I was a seller and a buyer in Jan 2023. I purchase a historic home from a newer home…. Yes we made some upgrades to the mechanics and some grading issues that allowed moister in our basement when it rained. But more importantly I have a basement in California! These days people love vintage lighting… we love a home with trim and mouldings and that isn’t like the 17 million other homes. Wallpaper is huge! I actually removed a good bit and regret it… in some areas. I get so many of these tips on a lot of the videos were popular for so long… but things are shifting. Color is in. Muted colors…. Not the red or Tuscany of 2005. No more grays and whites and black farm houses. Even tho a well done farm house can look beautiful. My historic wood trim from 1920 is stunning in its original finish. Upstairs we have always had painted trim. I love our lime plater walls. The original ones and the ones I actually redid. In the basement if looks a little more “new”. But we had all our bathrooms and kitchen totally remodeled in 2022 (prior to my purchase of my historic home) I’m painting my kitchen from white. We have subway tile to the ceiling…white marble look quartz counters with gray veins… white white white…. I added the walnut kitchen cabinet units that sit on the counter around the sink a plate rack. Something to warm it up. My last house I redecorated also. It was a recent flip I owned for 4 years before this home. It sold for more than any other in the street. My agent assured me I took the property as far as I could with my design and upgrades I did on top of the flip. Buyers like a home that is taken care of. Ya I’d love a de vol kitchen to have been here so I’m making it. But most of we are looking for something that isn’t like everyone else. Something we can make ours. I fall into the buyer and the seller category having done both at once in 2023… that being said I don’t believe in deferred maintenance which was a wonderful tip! I tried to include pictures that look wonderful online that aren’t all white and beige! Check out some trends in southern living… de vol kitchens… color is coming in hot in decor and home trends… just look up home style decor trends… you can even look up paint trends. I’m a traditional decorator. I’ve always leaned towards classic style and historic vibes juxtaposed with modern accents. And I’ve sold 2 homes in less than a month… the one that took the longest had the least of my own style in it. Anyway. A lot of this might have to do with being in California…
Definitely agree wth your advice to be mindful of warmth or coolness in existing fixtures when painting. When they are mismatched, like in your examples, it looks off.
We bought a 30 yr home entirely covered in old, dingy contractor's white 🤮. I am working my way through it - ceilings are a fairly bright white with a bit of sheen (DE Whisper eggshell), new lights and fans. Walls a warm neutral eggshell, slightly more intense than off-white (SW Maison Blanche) and (mainly because we have a heavy dust load) trim in BM Pashmina. It is all working as a fresh background without drawing undue attention. Hope it works for buyers when the time comes. 🙏
Your absolutely correct for colors, make them neutral. One I don't like yellow, but customers don't like to always paint. My eyes went straight to the yellow, not good. Selling the 5 houses I have had, I keep house neutral with off white walls and bright white trim and beige carpet. Colors in my house are pillows and accessories. I have sold my houses quick with that one aspect. Love your video.
I never look at paint colours because I’d paint it anyways. I agree with another poster I look at floors, counters and bathrooms if they are ugly, loud or old I’m out as I know that costs more money.
I painted the main living area Sherwin-Williams “silver strand.” Depending on the lighting, it can look gray or green or even blue. The master bedroom is “silver plate.” The rest of the house is pure white.
I just looked at the HGTV sweepstakes home for 2024. The kitchen has brown cabinets and white walls but all the bedrooms each have a different color paint.
I specifically picked light gray, medium gray, and dark gray for my home. With black furniture and red curtains. We LOVE it. We are listing our home soon. The only thing I’m changing is painting the kitchen the super light gray. Our quartz countertops are black and our cabinets are medium gray. Our flooring is dark gray as well. Everyone who comes to our home loves it. We are listing for $750K. I appreciate the advice, but once the floor is in you have to work around that. I can’t just repaint everything eggshell and make it match everything else. Most people buy new furniture (or plan to) when they move, especially first time homebuyers.
@@KatiSpaniak Hi Kati. Since my last post we’ve had 4 other homes go on the market in our neighborhood. We are still not listed yet due to needed repairs to pass code inspections. Our HVAC, water heater, roof, and electrical system all needed to be upgraded or replaced. Now we are $25,000 in, and all the homes we are competing with are dropping in price. The latest one is down to $685k. No matter how lovely our house looks on the surface, these maintenance problems are killing us. Should I spend more money on making our house neutral inside or just try to price it to sell? People can’t see all the mechanicals we spent money on, but we still have striking design colors inside. I spend all day looking at listings in our area, and just like you said, EVERYTHING is light and bright. Changing it will probably cost another 2 weeks and $3000. Is it smart money to spend? The $685 listing is a distressed sale, just FYI. There are others at $775 with no updates but also no offers. Things seem to change every day and I feel like I’m chasing my tail.
@@cindycrewsbeach72what has your agent said about your price? I always say that you need to be the correct price no matter what. So pricing is really important. I’d get the house on the market at the right price as soon as you can.
One of my homes that I sold years ago, the house was painted in warm earth tones in semi-gloss to help with the light within the house with flat white ceilings. That was one of the selling points that was mentioned by the ultimate buyer. House was on market for five hours with four offers over asking. I told me realtor ahead of time that she didn't understand market at the time as we listed over what she wanted to.
Paint is the cheapest way to make your house look better for sure. The previous owners of my house had someone come in and paint ALL the walls the same white colour. It wasn’t long at all before I started painting but it did give me a blank slate to work with.
Colorforms. Just a side note about the large peel & stick paint samples. Most of these are a similar or closely coordinated match made with inks, not actual paints, therefore the colors / pigments / LRV’s won’t be an exact match. I have learned this the hard way. Another thing to note is that all paint colors will not be an exact match, unless purchased from the same company or brand. In other words, a gallon of Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter “can be” color matched at Sherwin Williams or Home Depot, but that matched gallon will not be the same on the wall. The paint chemistry and makeup of the base formula is not the same and it will greatly affect the color.
Also as a stager and photographer who specializes in working with people on a budget, a tip I would share for people who don't want to or can't afford to repaint is to swap out accessories to neutralize less desirable colors and also talk to your photographer about your concerns. For example, if that first yellow kitchen had been one belonging to my clients, I would have suggested changing out the curtains to something that neutralized the yellow on the walls. Also changing your light bulbs can have a big impact. As a photographer I know that any color can photograph poorly depending on a number of factors. Oak cabinets and houses with all LED lighting are two of the worst offenders. When I photograph a room with a lot of natural oak in it, I always wind up adjusting the orange out and LED lighting requires blue adjustments. The camera just doesn't see things the way the human eye does and then you throw in the computer screen, and nearly all photos need to be adjusted for color. Any photographer worth their paycheck knows this. So going back to that first photo, I would have changed or removed the curtains, dropped some of the yellow out of the photo during editing, and either staged or virtually staged it with a rug and some beautiful white furniture like that in the second photo. Now you might be thinking, if I can't afford a painter, I can't afford a stager and professional photographer either. It has been my experience that both are less expensive than painters and most of the time, it's actually the listing agent that hires and pays me. FYI
My daughter just sold her house and she has agreeable grey in master. Buyers were climbing over each other to buy her house. The living room and family room and halls were done in a tan
The paint color we have gone with the last two times we sold our house was Glidden Antique White. It has some warm rosy undertones that make anything you put with it look good.
$3000, $5000, $10000 for painting??? We paint our own rooms in our homes. That amount of money is crazy. The only thing we have ever paid anyone else to paint was an 18' entryway. The painter complimented our work!
I was thinking the same thing! I can't imagine spending that much to paint. I've always done most to all of the painting in my houses. A couple of times we did hire a painter for some of the more tricky areas, but never spent more than about $1500.
I also think it's too expensive. A normal tradesman shouldn't cost more than $100 an hour. Painters don't have particularly high levels of training, otherwise you wouldn't be able to paint yourself. So if I can paint my bedroom myself in 3 hours, then I'll only offer a tradesman $200 for it plus materials. So how big does the house have to be to justify $3,000?
I bought a town home & didn't have to change a thing . The color is called Dove gray . It a green gray & complements the golden oak floor perfectly . I know white trim & doors are in , but we always loved natural wood . I don't have to touch up white paint on doors & trim like my daughter . Plus with her dogs windowsills too.
Unfortunately, not all agents have taste. My last agent I love as a person. Our home was fully renovated. Neutral modern contemporary. Calm. Frameless glass 8 ft shower walls. Tasteful. Three neighbors listed in two months, 2 directly across the street beside each other, and the home beside me. They'd been on the market for 2-3 months. Then I listed #4 and questioned my sanity. One day my sweet agent hung a sad old plastic flower wreath on our front door. Had to take it down and hide it lol. Sold in 2 weeks. The others remained listed 2-4- months before an offer. Color choices are crucial.
My home is a combo of contemporary and modern. I had a decorator suggest I paint my bathroom walls and trim all the same color. It was genius! Since it was the bath, I painted everything with semi-gloss. It looks so much less fussy than using two different colors. Next I will be painting my main living area the same color using flat on the walls and semi-gloss on the trim.
Excellent video, thank you! I've sold several homes using similar strategies. My current condo is the trickiest. It doesn't get a lot of natural light and has a lot of dull gray areas. Some areas have a distinct green cast from a wall of green trees. Beautiful warm neutrals and off whites read as a sickly light green. If cool greys were still popular, they would work better. I am customizing the color and getting close with a modification of BM Pale Oak.The color needs red/pink undertones to neutralize the green. It's a fun challenge since I have time to figure it out.
Very sorry to see grey is so popular still. Living in Britain we have grey skies most of the year, who would want to add to the depression! Warm off-whites are my favourites, light and bright without being stark. At least black kitchens seem to have fallen out of favour.
I'll be the weirdo; I like all of the "dated" pictures better and when I see all of the off whites, I'm just thinking that I'll have to repaint soon. In all seriousness, when I was looking for a house, having colors didn't matter to me unless the colors were very dark or bold. I ended up buying a Craftsman era house, the selling point for me was the all original natural wood stairs and trim, as well as the perfectly outdated 1920's parlor lights in the main room.
Another thing that I believe is very helpful within the lighter and more neutral color palettes of the paint when buyers walk in (apart from their furniture being more likely to be able to work in the home without having to paint it first) is that it is calming and soothing. It's tranquil. Color does impact us - all colors do. So when you walk in and it feels calming, tranquil, relaxing, you get this feeling of it being a good place to call home. It just makes you feel better being in it. You want to feel at peace in your home. You want to feel calm and relaxed....like your own little respite and oasis away from it all. So I actually believe that when the colors in a home that people are viewing causes them to feel that way when they are inside looking around, is very helpful to the cause of selling it. I've seen images of homes in listings that have made me want to not even take the time to go see them and it was mainly due to colors on the walls and - even worse - effing wall paper! OH LORD someone should outlaw that stuff. It is hard to get wall paper off and I will likely not ever buy a home with wall paper on the walls. F the idiots who were dumb enough to put it up in the first place and then be dumb enough to actually list their home with it on the walls - especially when it's obvious they did the house up to the hilt in their decorations. It's one thing if it's an old fixer upper and there was wall paper on the walls from 50 years ago and the whole house has to be redone anyway. But it is another thing when it is obvious the paint and wall paper was done on purpose more recently by the current owners. I honestly would not even likely buy a house with "colors" on the walls. The last thing I want to do when buying a house is have to paint it first before I move in. Hell to the NO.
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That kitchen is not yellow, it's beige! I understand and appreciate the clip and I'm sure many will relate. However, our experience was the exact opposite. We sold our house in next to no time and it was brightly painted on the exterior & the interior. It was built in 1930 so has wonderful art deco features. I painted the interior in about 10 different shades of blue, the kitchen was pastel blues & purples, including the vintage doors. The bath room was also brightly painted and I chose bold, complimentary colours, no anemic colours involved! The previous owner painted the kitchen dark brown so stripping the paint off the doors was a Herculean task! It helps that I paint landscapes so am not afraid to use colours. I have never been a symphony in beige or white person and the house was an explosion of colour! Teenagers would regularly pose and do selfies on our porch. We live in an already gray world. If you really imprint a house with character and the right balance of contrasting colours, the right buyer will be attracted to it as the house exudes something dynamic. That's my 2 cents worth!
Like the lady with a historic house who has used period colours, which I think is really lovely, your 1930 house was built in the jazz age with new distinctive architecture springing up so your bold colours fit right in with that zeitgeist.
Barring any unforeseen changes in circumstances like health woes or job loss, we are here for four more years until our youngest finishes high school. In that time, I want to fix three problems on our property. First, we desperately need to landscape the shady front yard. Second, I think we need to add some sort of entryway; currently the entrance has no "landing area" it just drops the guest in the middle of our living room with no front closet or way to transition. Third, the original bungalow was built in 1916, has stained glass windows, built in bookcases, stripped and stained oak moulding, hardwood floors and radiator heat. We put on a second story in 2010 with hardwood flooring, but painted moulding and forced aired heat/ac. So the problem is that it looks and feels like two separate homes, and I need strategies of how to tie it all together, with future buyers in mind. Any advice/books/websites is most welcome.
You may just need to unify the transition from the main level to the upstairs. I wouldn't necessarily remove the original elements if they work. I really like heat from a radiator in the winter. It has a lot of advantages and is a pretty consistent heat source. I don't know why, because I'm not really a fan of wallpaper, but wallpaper going up the staircase might be enough to bring the old and new sections together. If the living room is big enough, some kind of small room divider may be enough to give some separation and the feel of an entry when people first walk in the front door. It could be a piece of furniture or maybe you could build a partial wall with a decorative element, like an opening where you could hang a piece of stained or leaded glass, or add some other simple feature. You might even be able to create the appearance of an entry hall by putting a small bookcase off to the side of the door where you could keep shoes in baskets, or put other items in baskets to corral things that collect by the door, and then hang a piece of stained glass or a wood and metal art panel or gate directly above it to create the effect of a wall.
Don't have advice for the indoors, but my half of my front yard is completely shaded by a fairly large pink dogwood. Forget grass, and it was too dry to make a moss garden (although I attempted, lol). I now have converted it to bulbs and perennials that look good all summer. I have lily-of-the-vally, several varieties of fern (that self sow to make more, win!!), astilbe, pulmonaria, brunnera, azalea, a fragrant viburnum that just had its bloom, and several varieties of Hosta. I get frequent compliments, and in the hottest weather it feels 10 degrees cooler there. I add in some caladium and impatiens for extra color in the summer.
I saw something that made me think of you today. I've been looking at various ways to create a "brick" 🧱 wall - everything from thin brick, to "brick" paneling, to "bricks" created with joint compound and tape to create the appearance of brick were recommended to me: one was wall stamping, which is similar to stenciling but you are actually rolling your paint on a stamp that gets applied to the wall vs stippling the paint in the openings of a design on a plastic stencil. But the idea I had for you was along the lines of the wallpaper idea without the long-term commitment to wallpaper. I think people who would be interested in your home would likely be people initially drawn to the elements unique to the period when your home was built. In the past, wallpaper was popular and could be viewed as a status element in a home, but for a lot of people in recent years, wallpaper was a bit of a turn off because it could be so difficult to remove. If you like wallpaper, you could add that to one wall of the staircase, which could add visual interest, particularly if it's on a wall that faces into the living room or some other room. If it's an L-shaped staircase with a couple of steps and a small landing that has a small wall that is defined by the staircase that could also be wallpapered, and there are removable wall papers now too, so that could be a selling point to potential buyers who are wallpaper-shy. What I thought of today, though, was stenciling the main wall of the staircase. Depending on how tall the ceiling is going up to the second floor, it could be a challenge, but there are so many types of wall stencils now, and some are quite large and can create a lot of impact, even mimicking the appearance of wallpaper. There are a lot of styles to choose from: geometrics, damask, etc., and they look different depending on the paint colors used. Following along the lines of the discussion from the video about paint colors that make your home sell better, going with a lighter colored wall in one of the suggested shades and a barely there coordinating stencil color in a similar color family that's just a little darker could be interesting. Think of a very light gray or creamy white with a subtle French gray or other light greige stencil design. It could be any color though. Then you could bring the new addition and the original structure of the home together by just having a few randomly placed stencils on a wall or walls in the hallway on the second floor. Think of it like blowing on a silver dandelion where you blow on it, and you have cluster of heavily concentrated seeds at first, and as they are picked up on the air currents, you just see a couple random ones here and there as they float upwards. It could be an interesting look that unifies the old and the new that, if done well, could be an unobtrusive way to achieve your goal without immediately being interpreted as "work" or a built-in expense to potential buyers. A similar take on that concept that I've seen which trends towards the more dramatic involves the use of darker paint colors and stenciling with a higher gloss paint over a matte finish paint, which is also an interesting look. One of the most stunning interpretations of this idea that I've seen was a black front entry hall with a trellis design stencil with black glossy paint on a black matte paint background and a contrasting white wainscoting treatment on the wall below it. THAT is a look someone goes for because they love it, though, and not as part of a plan to boost its appeal to potential buyers. Anyway, there you have it: an idea for your consideration and maybe a jumping off point for other ideas! Wishing you success and happiness wherever life takes you! Black entry hall picture here: www.royaldesignstudio.com/products/moorish-trellis-wall-stencil
I tried to add more examples of what I was talking about, but for whatever reason, it was censored. The site that linked in my previous comment has a lot of examples of different stencil types, and there are other sites with different designs as well, including wall stamps, which are very similar. I don't even know if any of that interests you, or what your style is, but it's an option you can consider. 🙂
I painted my house Edgecomb Gray with White Dove Trim. I sold it in 5 days for asking price that was 25,000 over what everybody told me I could get. Your advice to go neutral is correct.
I totally agree! If you don't feel confident about being able to identifying cool and warm tones, go to your local paint dealer and ask them to give you some samples of cool and warm tones, then when you go into your own home, with its own lighting, you can compare whether you have warm or cool tones on the walls or in the decor generally....and then you can adjust it accordingly!
We call it totalitarian gray. This trend has taken hold because of the dystopian times we are living in. I don't know how much the people paid for fresh gray paint in the house we bought just under three years ago, but the first order of business was to get some color on the walls. Dreary is not what we want in home sweet home. May this trend end quickly.
Yes, these dystopian times do have a subliminal effect if you follow the news. And men, for some reason, seem to love grey and black - perhaps they are affected by the times more than women!
![Before & After Pictures of a Home After It Was Staged [How to Stage Your Home]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/G9yJmsaza_c/mqdefault.jpg)
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What color is that first paint color? The white almost looks a little gray. Thanks
My mother was in Real Estate for decades. She said the same thing you are. Use neutrals so that the buyers can imagine their own furniture in the house. Or they can imagine how they might upgrade their old look to something new in a new house. It's all about their imagination. She also said south facing rooms should have a cool colored neutral and north facing rooms should have a warm colored neutral. Why? Northern light is cool coming into the room, and southern light is warmer coming into the room, so you want the opposite to warm up a cool room or cool down a warm room. I think east and west light is whatever works for you. Also, that's the power of complimentary colors, being colors that are opposite of each other on the color wheel. Artist use these concepts all the time. I'm an artist. Thanks for the great video.
you know nothing get a real job can believe you people get 6 0/0 for this bullshit that is stupid
@@velvetbees,
Great advice! 💖🙌😺
We have sold our homes over the past 30 years and have ALWAYS gotten top offers. We follow model home guidelines. Neutral warm colors, NO personal pix or items, clear ALL clutter, hide trash cans, put out fresh flowers, use essential oils like lemon or orange, play soft music, make sure ALL lights are on, ceiling fans on low. And make sure it is CLEAN!
Fantastic advice!! One thing I will add is to make sure bathrooms are clear as well. Toilet seats down, no shampoo bottles out, etc. People don't like dirty homes!
@@KatiSpaniak We once toured a home that may have been staged, but it was weird because it looked like they intentionally left a cup of coffee and cash on the counter in the master bath.
Another home was a rental, and both the current tenant and her landlord were present when we toured the home. The house didn't exactly read as dirty, but it wasn't exactly clean either. The biggest turn-off was when we looked at one of the bathrooms, and the lid of the toilet was up, and they left a toilet bowl full of urine for us to analyze. 😳🤔😵💫
Both homes happened to be in Maryland.
@@charmc4152 Ok that is gross....
I totally agree. I cannot believe the amount of sellers who not only do not clean, they don't make their beds or do up dirty dishes. Makes me wonder why the realtor would post those pictures.
Someone may have looked before you. The agent should have went in each room first and left last….
In one of your videos you said that a home is now a product when you sell. This was the mind shift I needed when we had to sell our parents’ house and it will help me when we decide to sell our own home.
Glad it helped!!!
I am glad you mentioned this point. Just hearing it has not fully brought me out of my emotions surrounding selling my home. I do not know when, but I am sure I need to be ready to sell, since life has had so many changes over a several year time frame, and more are on the horizon. Whenever I end up selling, I want to be ready. Thinking of my home as a product, has helped me start to think of how I want it to be for myself too, now, everyday. When I walk into my home, I want it to feel easy, easy to make changes, in decor, in prep to sell.
Thank you for your comment.
Lisa, in Virginia.
@@lisafeck1537love this comment!!! You go!!
@@lisafeck1537 Truly insightful comment! Nicely articulated! Yes, having an authentic relationship with your home, an intimate knowledge of it and why you are attached to it and feel one with it, would seem to impede making changes with a clinical eye to sell. But in reality, the mindset of being one with your home actually makes it easier to let go...by a wonderful dialectical interplay of an emotion turning into its opposite.
I closed on a house last week and I knew the paint color as soon as I walked into that house: Sherwin Williams Repose Grey. Honestly, I love the house, but I don't love that paint color. As a buyer, I HATE GREYS. I'm going to be listing my current house, doing some painting first, I'll be using a warm white, no grey for me. I can't be the only one turned off by grey.
I hate greys too.
No, you're definitely not alone!
I HATE grey as well. I’ve seen some homes for sale with new grey carpet and walls. Too dreary and depressing for me. Reminds me of a gloomy, rainy day. I prefer warmer tones.
@@kabodick I remember going to Sante Fe and there being many intense colors inside homes. I've lived in my home for over 25 years and I've enjoyed a "jewel toned" pallette which was a thing in the 1990's.
Once I changed a room to the color I like I stay with it.
Enjoy your life!
@@kabodick I said the same thing .
The yellow kitchen would look better by just taking down the valances and leaving the paint the way it is. It's the valences that are the issue imo.
Agree 100%. The wall color is perfectly fine!
And the skylight, the other one has weird ceiling, and no furniture. Why didn't she just use the same room with a different color?
@@MamaMC4950g the wall colour looked really old fashioned to me. I would be thinking, oh no I have to paint to update it...
Exactly! Take down those and the color would instantly look more neutral. Also, that's not actually yellow, it's more of a warm beige.
Agree! Also sometimes you can change out your light bulbs to a higher Kelvin to tone down the yellow walls to get a more neutral beige. Easy fix rather than repainting.
I pay more attention to the flooring in the house. Repainting is a pain but not that big a deal. Redoing the floor, that is a big deal. So that photo with carpet in the dining room I was much more worried about the carpet that I was the paint color. But again, maybe I’m just weird.
Yes, Old carpet is nasty😮
I totally see that. Check out my last video where I talk about my own home and the flooring. Thanks for watching!
Wise, not weird.😉
I agree about the floors
Any carpeting on the floors of a kitchen or dining room are a big red flag and turn-off for me.
My agent told us not to bother to paint (and several of my rooms definitely did not have neutral colors, one was actually red and yellow). We had 13 showings and 2 offers above asking in 7 days.
Definitely talk to your agent before painting!
For sure!
It really depends on the market and other factors associated with the house. For homes that have challenges or in a slow market, paint can help.
Bought an eclectic Victorian in a short sale after it had sat on the market for 8 months. It had neutral white walls & gray wall to wall carpet in every room. We sold it a few years later with colorful paint & wallpaper & restored hardwood floors. In a bidding war in 1 month.
It's all market driven
@acarroll,
That's probably because there may be a lot of buyers looking to 'flip' the property in your area, not necessarily to live there themselves. 😋
The cool greys are evrywhere and like you say, they clash with the warm tone floors and cabinets. Your ideas are really good.
Thank you!!
Everytime I see a home painted gray on HGTV/DIY I think “oh yeah, I really want to live in a WWII submarine”! That’s what most gray paint colors remind me of, and I just can’t get past that thought.
Me: that’s a terrific shade of auto-primer!
Agreed! Way too institutional! They painted my newly renovated apt. walls a light/medium gray. How depressing! Makes rooms look smaller and you need more lamps. And gray vinyl plank flooring to boot. I liked the white walls and lot easier to repaint with the same.
In the NW we have enough gray.
I love gray!!
I absolutely hate the grays! I have lived in Ohio and WV my whole life and the sky is gray all winter long. Why on earth would I want gray walls? So depressing.
It depends of the house, location and now, the market. We sold my 90 year old mother’s house last year. Peeling wallpaper, vinyl floors. We were planning on removing the paper and painting. Realtor said not to bother. It’s a grandma house and nothing is going to change that. We got 34 offers in 1 week and sold it for 45k over asking.
People love a solid old house that hasn't been mucked around with.
Agreed. I would buy a vintage home that hasn't been 'modernized'. they are a rarity and command a premium price. Some people like this You Tube poster don't understand this.
People saw it as a blank canvas I guess, that they could really make their own. What good advice you were given!
Cool
@@l.5832,
The problem with all this "seller'' advice is, it's just a TREND!
Personally, I'm with you on the sturdier build__it's easier, and less expensive, to do superficial interior rehab than to do foundational work. 😬😋😺
As an upcoming SELLER and BUYER I’m loving that soft white you recommend. I’m over it with grays and my current too-warm beiges…. Thanks as always!
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Same here! I hated grey when it first came in, I hate it even more now. Bought a house last week, it has grey paint that I hate. About to list my other house now, will do some painting first in soft white.
@@bethford6884 The great thing is that paint is a (relatively) inexpensive way to make your new house your HOME 🏡
I'm co owner of a real estate company for the past 25 years, and now is a crazy time in the business!
We have the highest inflation in 40 years and interest rates that means your buyers have to make 80% more income than four years ago!
So be patient, because most Americans don't make that kind of money! Now it depends in California we pay the most for everything. In a less populated state it will take longer to sell. In the past it was easier on people to buy, but this administration isn't budging on the interest rates! And people aren't able to refinance right now because it doesn't make sense too!
@@stardustgirl2904 Thank you for your words of wisdom. Im fortunate enough to live in an area where the homes continue to sell within a week or two of listing - central Florida. We have many Californians coming here that have the cash to buy homes that are moderately priced (in comparison to CA). I ready for the long haul just the same. Thank you!
I can't argue with the logic in this video. As a home owner and artist, I LOVE bold saturated colors. But I remember when I was looking to buy my first home, I was more drawn to home interiors that were painted white or off white. Light shades make everything feel like a fresh blank canvas.
Never underestimate the power of lighting as well. Neutral paint tones can look completely different with warm vs cool lightbulbs.
Lighting is HUGE!! I completely agree!
I discovered that when I was looking at colors for the exterior of my house in AZ. Tan turned to face foundation in the sun.😂
Exactly, bright neutral lighting, (not too yellow and not too sterile white), complimentary furniture and accent colors that pop make or break a room.
Every space needs to feel clean, spacious, and not suffocating or oppressive, which is why light, neutral paint colors are the ideal without having to go all the way to a vacant, absence of color, (like white or "Builder's Beige"). Going white or light beige all too often makes a room feel bare and unfinished, instead of clean and spacious.
Anyone who has worked in clothing/fashion knows how personal color preference is to potential buyers, so those bold, vibrant, rich, saturated colors the seller chose to paint their walls are their own personal taste, which is automatically going to turn more people off than a fresh, neutral, color palette will.
@@milumav Really? That must be regional or something. Never painted to sell my house.
@@katydid2877 I mean I presume different parts of the world operate differently, but the majority of the U.S, U.K and Canada do paint and/or renovate their houses both inside and outside, (i.e: "curb appeal"). It's a $$ investment that adds to the house's resale value, (so whatever is spent on renovations needs to actually add value to the house or it's a wasted investment).
I really like Navajo White from Benjamin Moore. It’s a creamy shade of white. We painted two houses with this color and they sold very quickly.
Yes. That’s great!
The only decent thing my ex-slumlord ever did was to paint everything in his slummy apartment complex Navajo White. It was a nice change from the usual stab-your-eyes-out Operating Room White all landlords have felt mandatory for decades. It was soft and easy to look at while we froze to death.
😂😢
Prior to the grey phase, rentals that I have seen were painted “off the shelf” pre-mixed Shell White
@@Julia.Mandelbrot lol
A tip: make sure you're not partially color-blind before you make a major investment in painting a whole house inside or outside. I truly believe some of the builders and house flippers don't see how muddy and NOT neutral the grey paints they've been using are. I didn't know how common this is till I worked in an airport job screening facility, where a good 50 percent of the male applicants came up partially color blind.
Good point!
I don't know if it's because the decorator was color-blind lol, but our daughter has a new house in Dallas and I have seen many homes done by the same builder and all of them are painted a warm-ish greige BUT to me it's so not neutral---it's got a pink/salmon undertone. Yes, it "matches" the greige pink-ish standard tile they are using in all their bathrooms but, blech! And it doesn't match the standard flooring they install in their spec-houses either, because the floor is a pretty strongly gray-colored LVP that's not warm enough for the wall color.
@legalavocado3447 When gray became a "thing" it was sort of interesting at first, but it got to the point, for me, pretty quickly, that it was dull, boring, and unpleasant. To me, living in such a gray home would have felt like living in a black & white TV show where the fullness and richness of life is only hinted at because it doesn't exist within the confines of the home, it's somewhere just beyond it - outside of the doors and windows.
It's a little reminiscent of the film, "The Wizard of Oz," where Dorothy's real life and comfort zone is a sepia-toned world, but all of the real excitement and adventure she experienced was made richer and more vibrant through the magic of technicolor. But when she returned to the familiar and comforting things in life that were the most important to her, back she went to her sepia-toned life. It's interesting, because the pandemic brought a lot of the gray tones with it, creating homes that, for me, felt like they had the life sucked right out of them. But for some of the people I came across who gravitated towards the gray and often minimalist look in their homes, they really NEEDED that. That WAS their comfort zone. They could not handle color because it was over-stimulating to them. It's been interesting, over time, to watch as people's perspectives have changed, how the homes they live in have changed too, and how that sometimes translates as bringing more color into their homes. It doesn't just exist as something outside and somewhere, over the rainbow anymore. But you have to play to all of the crowds and preferences when selling, and so, we neutralize... 😉 A lot of builders are still stuck in that gray comfort zone.
I was never a fan of the gray craze, especially after it rolled over everything like a gloomy cloud. After a while, I would see a room in a magazine or TV show and it looked to me very much like a scary stage set for a play, or a haunted house fun ride, where the set designer comes in and just spray-paints everything gray. @@charmc4152
Yikes! But it explains so much!
I am repainting in greige. I will paint myself though. I redid my house 12 years ago and hired a painter. Biggest mistake ever! I was so mad! My father was a professional painter and taught me. It tajes me longer but I know it will be perfect when I’m finished. I will use the thousands I save to either buy new furniture or go on a vacation!
That is awesome! I wish I had those skills. Spoil yourself with that extra money! It will be worth it for sure!
I just painted my living room, dining room and hallway, "greige" actually "Dove" eggshell from Home depot. It changes from a light beige to a light gray depending on lighting. Therefore, it matches everything. I had a party last weekend. Everyone knew I had painted, but no one said, "I love it." It just doesn't elicit an emotional reaction, but it is calm and comforting.
Greige is actually known as French Grey in the art world. Just FYI :)
I always paint a piece of cardboard with a prospective room color. Then tape to the wall (painters tape) and observe it for a few days/ nights.
I've been doing a full poster board with a prospective color and move it around for at least a week to see the effects of changing natural light and how it goes with various pieces of furniture. It has saved me thousands.
great content! congrats on your youtube success. you've been making some real traction this year!
Thank you for your support!!! It’s been a crazy climb!
If I walk into another historic home that has been vandalized with gray paint, I think I am going to scream.
Yeah. I know. Painful
Lol. You nailed it!! Just walked into a rental today with grey paint and Mexican tile orange floors. Just ewwww.
In Texas it is white with all black fixtures. They rip off the architectural elements and paint the exterior white with black trim too and call it a "farmhouse." I've almost cried a couple of times.
Death by gray 😢
I couldn't agree more. What a travesty.
I love, love, LOVE Whitetail from Sherwin Williams. It’s a warm white that’s soft, cheery and looks good anytime of day.
We're looking at houses and so many people have put gray laminate floors with gray walls. We won't even go look at them. I'd have to rip it all out. Gray doesn't seem neutral to us at all.
IKR, the grey laminate flooring is so unfortunate.
It’s depressing. I will always associate it with Covid lockdowns. Color is in for most people but it can be tricky. Warm whites are my favorite, like vanilla ice cream.
Yes! I am looking to downsize to a preferably 2 bedroom cottage, when I see something I like, exterior-wise, the interior has those awful gray floors, that ends it for me.
Landfills will be full of that gray flooring. So very sad!
Agree, had to pass by great prospects due to gray color themes
Starting getting ready for our sale three years ago. Painted the entire home White Dove by Benjamin Moore. Looks fantastic.
Love white dove!
That’s funny I had just picked white dove for a possibility in my own house. I do like it. My house has a strange color thing where most normal whites don’t work.
Your videos have a strong green color cast!
I had a new construction home in 2018 and our whole paint selection was Agreeable Gray and I personally loooved it. It looked so great in all the different lightings/shadows. It was really nice. Our house sold super fast because it was warm and inviting. I still think for my future house I want Agreeable Gray again. I miss it. 😂
That’s what we chose after buying an older home that was last updated in 2008 with yellow pee and brown yuck paint (I called them diaper colors). We tried 8 different greys. Agreeable grey was perfect! I love it. Works with everything.
That's a good color for sure
@nowyouknowrealestate5703 2008, the Tuscan influence was still en vogue, and the style trends went with the golds, browns, reds, and overall warmth, as well as the more Old World, heavy, overstuffed, darker designs. Color trends seemed to evolve towards a darker spectrum from there, at first, before lightening up overall, and moving into the gray period which seemed to hit its zenith during the pandemic.
Same. That particular gray is more greige.
This is really market dependent. Where I'm at outside of Houston about half of the buyers want an all white interior and the other half cringe when they see that. There are a lot of people here sick to death of white and grey. In the places like MS and LA, people trend more toward color and even wallpaper. The reality is that no matter what color your walls are, some people are going to hate them and some are going to love them. I would avoid dark or bold colors, but otherwise not worry about it.
True!
It makes sense to paint the house all in white because it will allow the buyers to paint in a color to personalize it to their taste and sense of decor.
I have to agree. I think it's more important to focus on the staging details pointed out in these videos. As long as the house has one neutral color throughout and no various dark colors in each room, I wouldn't bother painting unless the walls need painting, not just a color change. I saw many beautifully staged homes that were not white or grey back when I was looking for a home. Actually, I was one of those people who did cringe when I saw a home with white or grey walls. I didn't like the kitchen all white in the first example. I prefered the warm color walls. All white reminds me of a hospital but that's my opinion.
@@nutritioncoachjo yes! I call it “dental office style”. Not inviting, not warm, not “homey”. I find that people who work a lot and are seldom home seek an easy-to-clean, sterile home that copies whatever is the current trend, while people who are more into “slow-living” and spend time at home like to create a warm, inviting, personalized home that feels like an enchanted sanctuary. I personally don’t ever want to “come home” to a dentist office or operating room look!
I can change any color , but what is very important to me is : How old is the roof and the electric wiring . What is the floor made off and how good are the windows ? What size is the lot and location etc. 🌲🏡🌳😄
You are recalling "COLORFORMS", from our childhood.
If I had a bit of extra $ I would buy a big set of Colorforms -- I adored, ADORED playing with those. I can see and feel them, in my hands, today. I'm 71, we are speaking of 59 years ago..
YAY COLORFORMS.
I am going to be selling my 1839 house, and because it is historic, it has historic colors. If a buyer is put off because the colors are not neutral, then frankly they need not buy my house.
I love the idea of historic colours in historic houses, it looks so right, especially with at least a few antiques of the period, also wallpaper copies of period wallpapers.
Same here....I am about to put my 1920 house on the market. I have chosen neutral warm colors. It would look horrible in white on white! I think an older home looks much better with historical colors, and warmer tones.
Well done. I love older houses, but I hate when owners try to make them "trendy" when they're already timeless. It reminds me of Beetlejuice when the couple comes in and decorates the old farmhouse with modern art. Yuck.
@@emmaschauer5409 haha I have thought many times of the "Beetlejuice" analogy when looking at some of these formerly beautiful older homes. And can we just stop removing all of the walls in old homes, please? :)
@@sandrapicton8961 Yes - gorgeously appropriate to the age, wallpapers and colors.
Realtor flipped house two doors down, did grey walls etc. it has sat there for months. Average sale time in my neighborhood is three days. Be very careful what you do.
I agree, grey is a deal killer!
I assure u it’s not the grey paint why it won’t sell. It’s something else.
Grey.... cement grey.
Lovely.
Some people see a grey house and think... "I am going to have to paint everything",
I see grey and think YIKES!!!
For more that 20 years grey has been pushed.
I call it prison grey.
@@TheSwissChalet ... Exactly !
I think kids were brainwashed to prefer no color.
Interesting to me is when I look at Architectural Digest with most expensive homes few are white and grey.
Kim Kardashian did all white and stark.
Trying to make her followers think "this is cool"... no color, no beauty.
So sick of depressing grey house interiors. I would have to paint that quickly.
Grey is out of trend since 2022.
@@lolohellokids3211 In my world it was never in trend.
Personally, I absolutely love gray and white. I'm glad to see there are warm grays if that's the way I have to go to sell. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing!
When we were shopping, we told our realtor cross off any houses with gray walls. Who does this? Gray is for battleships and warehouses.
You can always repaint and might miss out on a lovely home. Also, just like every color, there are many shades and warm and cool undertones.
You forgot funeral homes! Soo awful, I will sofocate on a home with gray wall ..
@@rosafranco9184 haha these comments are so funny. Have people not repainted walls before?
@@carollynt It's very depressing.
Not if you aren't depressed 😂
I guess I’m just weird, but when I look at houses online, I actually am drawn to the ones with color. For instance, that first kitchen you shown, I hated the yellow curtains, but I liked the yellow paint. I guess I’m just strange. maybe I just get tired of seeing white on white on white with a little bit of gray thrown out on top of some more gray.
I agree. I’m drawn to the ones with color…provided they are well chosen colors that harmonize with each other. Seeing all the white, and grey, grey, grey, grey…a million shades of grey…I think “why do people intentionally take all the charm out of their homes?”.
Same here. I have to wonder about people that are drawn to white, sterile, institutional homes.
You may be drawn to the ones with color, but the people who are purchasing aren't.
@@vicz8899 it wasn’t an issue when I bought my house. I just depends on the person. But if you’re trying to please the masses, then you have to go with the board in white.
You are in the minority
I did my whole first floor, foyer, upper staircase area and upstairs hallway in Canvas Tan by Sherwin Williams. This is the best neutral I ever found and it goes with all decorating colors.
I bought a house in 2020 that had a lime green kitchen and a pumpkin orange master bedroom . All the remaining rooms were grey beige or white and i repainted all of those with colors. I bought this house the same day it went on the market
When my husband and I were looking for a house in a "quaint" area, the kitchen had lime green wall tile that was so "loud" it literally gave me a headache. I loved the house, but the kitchen tile killed that sale.
The reason the tan colors sell so well is because they are the color of sand on the beach. The beach is somewhere we go to relax. It is a very calming color. Life is so stressful that we need to regroup and relax in our homes in order to face the world.
Love that!
Thanks for sharing your insight on the connection between tan colors and relaxation. It's so interesting to think about!
I'm painting tan color this week. It's still neutral but with warmth. Grey makes think of 2020 😢 boo
You ALWAYS give the BEST advice..appreciate you!!!
Thank you so much!!! 😊
Hi, I painted houses to prep for sale for years and I agree with your color suggestions. Not so much the sheens though. Living rooms, diningrooms, bedrooms, and hallways should be flat. Eggshell cheapens the look of those rooms and gives them a rental look. Bathrooms, laundry rooms and kitchens are best in eggshell. Semi-gloss for trim is great. Satin on trim is beautiful. So, agree with that ❤ Also, YES, hire a professional.
Thanks for sharing! I appreciate this!
Flat walls can be touched up. Eggshell shows touch ups. Flat paint also has a richer look...
@@kathybuchanan6474 Thanks!! That's why I would bring in a professiona!!
I hate flat paint. It's totally impractical if you have children or pets and have to live in the house for a while before it sells. It does look nice, but it's impractical for real people actually living in a home. If you have dogs, you're going to get a "dog line" along the walls in the hallway and staircases really quick with flat paint because the oils in the hair will be absorbed by the paint.
@@charmc4152I've lived in a two-story home with mostly flat paint for over twenty years. Raised three children, two dogs and two cats. Quality flat paint cleans just fine, never a problem, except crayons, of course. ;)
As a designer, one of the best colours I found is Benjamin Moore’s Revere Pewter, it’s warm and changes subtly with different light conditions. I always go with matte finish on the walls and eggshell for trim, not too glossy but gives a nice sheen. It’s classic and not brash. I find semi gloss can accentuate flaws more.
I agree. One of my favorite
Did my home same color very bright home big windows door wall glass . Looks different in every room all day long some days. He looks like a very lightly lavender. Sometimes a little bit peachy . I love it made the home cheerful kitchen cabinets are light med gray looks awesome .WE HAVE Aquariums large ones in most room so that color really makes the tanks stand out
Couldn't agree with you more! When we sold are parents home, we paid the money to paint the home a very neutral off white. The realtor was thrilled and the house showed very well.
Thank you for sharing your experience! It's great to hear that the investment in painting the house paid off when it came time to sell.
We are house-hunting and are frequently turned off by the flooring choices, esp gray LVP and flooring that is way too patterned. We just see that as the first thing to replace.
Flooring is expensive, so a house would have to really have some wow for us to consider one with poor flooring choices. Take note, flippers.
I so agree with you on the gray floors! Enough already! And some of these homes have everything gray -floors, walls, kitchen cabinets, to the point where the photos look like a black and white photo - literally no color anywhere! Yikes!
Sherwin William’s Alabaster is the perfect white. I also love SW Sea Salt.
Those are both great colors. Alabaster was in SW colors of 2024! Thanks for watching!
I have two bedrooms in Alabaster and have one bathroom in Sea Salt. I just love that color!
I'm a firm believer in getting samples before painting. Lighting changes the way the color looks so each wall may appear to be a differet hue. Also, light bulbs matter and the amount of natural light in the room. The color also varies depending on what it butts up to. A very white trim will make even a very light color seem darker.
This is a fantastic idea! Especially if you can't decide between a few colors. Thanks for watching!
@@KatiSpaniak Thanks Kati. I forgot to mention that I get the 1 quart sized sample paints from Sherwin Williams so that I can paint an area on every wall, then observe the results for night and daytime. I've been visiting your channel often as I'm getting ready to sell in a couple of years. I like your advice and approach. Thanks for what you do.
@@elizabethc9832 Thanks for your comments!! Good idea!!
i was happy to learn you suggested white dove and revere pewter ... my interior colors! I love them in my home.
We did most of our interiors in this combo, and we have loved it ever since. We get compliments all the time. Our dining room we did in Ben Moore Phillipsburg Blue and it goes SO well with the Revere Pewter and White Dove. We love it.
My client has paint on the walls and she got 10% over asking. Also depends on how well you price the house. There are a lot of factors that go into it but cleaning it up the house, getting the clutter out and the right price is essential.
Looks like your client painted their way to a higher asking price! Who knew a little color could bring in the big bucks? Agree on the how well to price the house!!
I decided to sell my home myself a year ago. I got a fantastic coaching package deal online with a firm offering coaching, professional photos with 360 video, help writing description, and most importantly, filtering potential clients. We paired everything down, changed the flooring upstairs and staged it. We had 30 visits , several offers and a sale within 2 weeks. All for 720 euros. Of course I did the visits myself but I knew the house best!
Huh. Interesting. What is the company that you used? We have a lot of companies that will 'buy" a house. But not many coaching companies.
@@KatiSpaniak De particulier à particulier in France ( means from private owner to private owner) Also known as PAP. Check online
BM Revere Pewter flat the best! Goes with warm and cool colors! Will totally increase $$$!
Yes, that is a great color! Thanks for commenting!
Yep
@@KatiSpaniak yep it is a great color, however no matter what color you paint half will like it and half won't. So unless you have painted walls purple, lime green, hot pink etc. Leave it alone.
I used BM REVERE PEWTER for a friends house…love it. Looks a little different in each room.
My house was completely done in that 1970's dark wood cheap paneling. Painting it works wonders and keeps it easy to wash down. I used a satin or semi gloss. I myself would never paint real wood paneling like knotty pine because real wood is always timeless and beautiful and most people love it.. 😊
And maybe be the buyer who can see past the paint. I was that buyer. The one who bought a house a little lower in price than average and was painted light pink, yes, light pink in the entire great room and main bedroom suite. Right after the sale closed, I went to the hardware store and got three gallons of neutral paint (about $200), hired a handyman (less costly than a painter ($500 vs. $2000). Now the house looks really great!
You made my point. 💯 you got a good deal on a home only because the paint wasn’t right. Thx for your comment
Great info!! Thanks for clarifying the difference between a stager and a decorator! Makes a lot of sense!
Thank you for your kind words! I’m thrilled that the video clarified things for you. Your support means a lot!
When we sold our house in Texas, we used Amazing Gray from Sherwin Williams and switched all our lightbulbs to daylight bulbs. The pictures online were so good, my kids said they were clickbait. We sold the house in 3 days.
That's amazing! Congrats on the quick sale!
I totally agree with the sample photos of the kitchens you displayed the second photo look was more modern. I have painted my kitchen a pumpkin orange it goes well with the cabinets and black appliances the Kitchen is an open space there is no wall to separate the kitchen from my dining and living room area. But I do need a professional to come in and repaint it, so the lines are straight. I used painter's tape, and it didn't come out perfect. I painted my master bedroom a neutral color without the tape, and it came out much better. My home has neutral colors the guest bedroom is grey with white ceiling and the second bedroom is turn into an office painted all white. Yes, Semi-Gloss is better to clean in case of dust or marks. When I invited some friends over one of ladies thought I had my home staged to sale. Love your channel and your great advice.
have bought or built 7 homes in our 42 years together...sold 6. All six sold in less than 10 days, full asking price...and painted...GASP earth colors, browns and greens. the 4 homes we purchased already built...if we walked in and the walls and cabinets were white...we walked right out...no matter how great the price ...I cant stand white on white on white...it looks cold to me. The plus side, when we got back into this house, which was actually our first and we had used as a rental for 30 plus years, all we had to do was walk into HD, same colors we have used on every single house...and done in a day . As to staging...we are pretty minimal, so there is never stuff around...Our kitchen is a working kitchen, it is huge with plenty of space, but there is always something on a counter, be it a dehydrator, freeze dryer, canner..I honestly think a lot of buyers realized how much counter real estate we had simply because of that... Biggest turn offs as buyers...again, white on white, cigarette odor (and we use a fireplace for heat...big difference) personal items, and dirty baseboards...weird, but if you cant dust the baseboards down every now and then...what else has not been maintained.
Your experience in real estate sounds fascinating! Thanks for sharing your insights.
I’ve never understood the appeal of white kitchen cabinets - to me that look is just really boring! If someone has white cabinets on a sterile cool-white wall, even worse. I’m very glad that it’s the warm whites and grieges that are more popular now than cool neutrals. I saw one otherwise nice house in a great location that was painted a cool light blue inside - it really turned me off - almost made me shudder with the cold feeling it gave off! think most people feel more comfortable and relaxed in a home with warm neutrals on the majority of the walls. Dark colors do tend to make a room look smaller, which is also a factor. If you really want deeper colors in a room, keep it to just one wall so that it’s not overpowering. I personally love deep colors as accents, but I know I’m a bit unusual in my taste (my kitchen cabinets are cherry wood, which I love, love love!).
Dirty baseboards!!! That is my turn off pet-peeve completely. A house up for sale is not clean if the baseboard tops and corners are dirty.
I have been a buyer, seller and real estate agent and what you are saying is so true! Any time I have ever bought a home I have been looking at what the immediate changes are that I am going to have to do and it starts adding up in a buyers mind, when that cost gets too high, they will move on and so would I. The purchase of a home anymore is so extremely high and if I am going to live there, I may not have the money immediately to do all the painting to cover over the orange or red walls that go with absolutely nothing. If you are of the mindset that the buyer is going to repaint anyway, you are probably right but do not expect to get top dollar because with every room that has to be painted, the buyer is dropping the price they are willing to pay. Most buyers would purchase a house with every room painted white, than to walk into a colorful home with every wall a different color. That color or lack of, translates into cleanliness and organization in their minds which they are more likely to go for.
I bought my house because of it's location, the size of the property, the solid build of the house itself and the quality of the windows, flooring, heating system, roof and foundation. The last thing on my mind were thr popcorn ceilings...which I actually love...or the color of the paint or kitchen cabinets. 🤣🤣
I love the soft, light beige on the walls and the warm pine kitchen cabinets...very welcoming on a bitter, cold winter day, but still cool-feeling on hot summer days. The house has a lot of glass, so when the sun shines in, the rooms are bathed in a warm glow.
Got the selling price down because of wall to wall carpeting that covered an unfinished sub floor in the master.bedroom and two neglected parquet floors in the upstairs bedrooms. Had an oak floor put into the master bedroom and had the parquet floors refinished...and they look beautiful!
Regardless of the color of the paint inside, the price of my house has doubled since I bought it several years ago, so I can afford the 'luxury' of enjoying any interior colors that I like and still come out ahead of the game.
Totally agree. Paint color influenced my home buying decision when I was in my 30s. Its silly in retrospect, because I could have just painted: but it seemed daunting at the time. I ended up buying a home in neutrals that was move in ready. Today, I have some color on the walls as I plan on staying for a long time.
Paint color can be surprisingly powerful, right? I'm glad you found your perfect match in neutrals!
Gray (vinyl looking) flooring and gray walls are an instant scroll past for me. If I see white walls throughout a home, I feel myself mentally relax - like letting out a relaxed sigh. Have sold several of our past homes with neutral paint (including inside and out), and neutrals just work.
If I see one more listing with gray walls, cabinets, and floors!! I seriously think I am looking at a black and white photo void of color. It's just ugh for me.
I absolutely agree that neutral is best. I can appreciate the rooms with color but not when I’m buying. It looks staged to match their life not mine. I may live with beige or off white for years and not feel the urge to put anything on the walls. I am interested in structure and overall cleanliness.
I hear you
40 years ago the one splurge we allowed was to have the house painted before we moved in. We choose eggshell for walls, but didn’t have enough money for the trim. There was a discount for cash. We have since painted different colors for our daughter’s room as she grew for example. I’ve also worked on painting trim and doors. We still live here and I am glad that we made decisions to paint and carpet, etc to what we wanted to enjoy and not live the entire time with an eye to reselling. But those colors will go if we do choose to resell.
Thank you for commenting! If you are living in your home for a long time, it is totally fine to cater it to you until you are ready to sell!
You’re very clear and very helpful! OF COURSE your instructions are to help “sell!!” That’s what we need and expect! I appreciate your clarity and expertise! Just found you and subscribed!!
Thank you!!! Welcome!!!
I don’t know if bc we are in California that things are so different. But sometimes I feel like the tips are off according to what is in. I did like the 5 conditions or levels of houses. But so many folks are so sick of builder grade and white kitchens. I was a seller and a buyer in Jan 2023. I purchase a historic home from a newer home…. Yes we made some upgrades to the mechanics and some grading issues that allowed moister in our basement when it rained. But more importantly I have a basement in California! These days people love vintage lighting… we love a home with trim and mouldings and that isn’t like the 17 million other homes. Wallpaper is huge! I actually removed a good bit and regret it… in some areas. I get so many of these tips on a lot of the videos were popular for so long… but things are shifting. Color is in. Muted colors…. Not the red or Tuscany of 2005. No more grays and whites and black farm houses. Even tho a well done farm house can look beautiful.
My historic wood trim from 1920 is stunning in its original finish. Upstairs we have always had painted trim. I love our lime plater walls. The original ones and the ones I actually redid. In the basement if looks a little more “new”. But we had all our bathrooms and kitchen totally remodeled in 2022 (prior to my purchase of my historic home) I’m painting my kitchen from white. We have subway tile to the ceiling…white marble look quartz counters with gray veins… white white white…. I added the walnut kitchen cabinet units that sit on the counter around the sink a plate rack. Something to warm it up.
My last house I redecorated also. It was a recent flip I owned for 4 years before this home. It sold for more than any other in the street. My agent assured me I took the property as far as I could with my design and upgrades I did on top of the flip.
Buyers like a home that is taken care of. Ya I’d love a de vol kitchen to have been here so I’m making it. But most of we are looking for something that isn’t like everyone else. Something we can make ours. I fall into the buyer and the seller category having done both at once in 2023… that being said I don’t believe in deferred maintenance which was a wonderful tip! I tried to include pictures that look wonderful online that aren’t all white and beige! Check out some trends in southern living… de vol kitchens… color is coming in hot in decor and home trends… just look up home style decor trends… you can even look up paint trends. I’m a traditional decorator. I’ve always leaned towards classic style and historic vibes juxtaposed with modern accents. And I’ve sold 2 homes in less than a month… the one that took the longest had the least of my own style in it. Anyway. A lot of this might have to do with being in California…
Definitely agree wth your advice to be mindful of warmth or coolness in existing fixtures when painting. When they are mismatched, like in your examples, it looks off.
For sure!
I like warm colors.
We bought a 30 yr home entirely covered in old, dingy contractor's white 🤮. I am working my way through it - ceilings are a fairly bright white with a bit of sheen (DE Whisper eggshell), new lights and fans. Walls a warm neutral eggshell, slightly more intense than off-white (SW Maison Blanche) and (mainly because we have a heavy dust load) trim in BM Pashmina. It is all working as a fresh background without drawing undue attention. Hope it works for buyers when the time comes. 🙏
Your absolutely correct for colors, make them neutral. One I don't like yellow, but customers don't like to always paint. My eyes went straight to the yellow, not good. Selling the 5 houses I have had, I keep house neutral with off white walls and bright white trim and beige carpet. Colors in my house are pillows and accessories. I have sold my houses quick with that one aspect. Love your video.
I never look at paint colours because I’d paint it anyways. I agree with another poster I look at floors, counters and bathrooms if they are ugly, loud or old I’m out as I know that costs more money.
I painted the main living area Sherwin-Williams “silver strand.” Depending on the lighting, it can look gray or green or even blue. The master bedroom is “silver plate.” The rest of the house is pure white.
Those colors sound lovely! I'm feeling more restful just thinking of them! :)
I just looked at the HGTV sweepstakes home for 2024. The kitchen has brown cabinets and white walls but all the bedrooms each have a different color paint.
I specifically picked light gray, medium gray, and dark gray for my home. With black furniture and red curtains. We LOVE it. We are listing our home soon. The only thing I’m changing is painting the kitchen the super light gray. Our quartz countertops are black and our cabinets are medium gray. Our flooring is dark gray as well. Everyone who comes to our home loves it. We are listing for $750K. I appreciate the advice, but once the floor is in you have to work around that. I can’t just repaint everything eggshell and make it match everything else. Most people buy new furniture (or plan to) when they move, especially first time homebuyers.
Your home setup sounds awesome! Best of luck with the listing and hope you find a buyer who appreciates your style!
@@KatiSpaniak Hi Kati. Since my last post we’ve had 4 other homes go on the market in our neighborhood. We are still not listed yet due to needed repairs to pass code inspections. Our HVAC, water heater, roof, and electrical system all needed to be upgraded or replaced. Now we are $25,000 in, and all the homes we are competing with are dropping in price. The latest one is down to $685k. No matter how lovely our house looks on the surface, these maintenance problems are killing us. Should I spend more money on making our house neutral inside or just try to price it to sell? People can’t see all the mechanicals we spent money on, but we still have striking design colors inside. I spend all day looking at listings in our area, and just like you said, EVERYTHING is light and bright. Changing it will probably cost another 2 weeks and $3000. Is it smart money to spend? The $685 listing is a distressed sale, just FYI. There are others at $775 with no updates but also no offers. Things seem to change every day and I feel like I’m chasing my tail.
@@cindycrewsbeach72what has your agent said about your price? I always say that you need to be the correct price no matter what. So pricing is really important. I’d get the house on the market at the right price as soon as you can.
@@KatiSpaniak We have agreed at $705 with seller concessions of $5000. I can live with that. And yes we are hurrying to list as soon as possible.
Can you make a video on exterior colors?
HI! That can go on the list for sure!
One of my homes that I sold years ago, the house was painted in warm earth tones in semi-gloss to help with the light within the house with flat white ceilings. That was one of the selling points that was mentioned by the ultimate buyer. House was on market for five hours with four offers over asking. I told me realtor ahead of time that she didn't understand market at the time as we listed over what she wanted to.
Paint is the cheapest way to make your house look better for sure. The previous owners of my house had someone come in and paint ALL the walls the same white colour. It wasn’t long at all before I started painting but it did give me a blank slate to work with.
I studied a LOT of whites before settling on Snowbound. We love it!
It's always worth taking the time to find the perfect shade! Glad you love Snowbound!
Colorforms. Just a side note about the large peel & stick paint samples. Most of these are a similar or closely coordinated match made with inks, not actual paints, therefore the colors / pigments / LRV’s won’t be an exact match. I have learned this the hard way. Another thing to note is that all paint colors will not be an exact match, unless purchased from the same company or brand. In other words, a gallon of Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter “can be” color matched at Sherwin Williams or Home Depot, but that matched gallon will not be the same on the wall. The paint chemistry and makeup of the base formula is not the same and it will greatly affect the color.
You are totally right! It is VERY important to know the brand i.e. SW or BM. Thanks for watching!
Also as a stager and photographer who specializes in working with people on a budget, a tip I would share for people who don't want to or can't afford to repaint is to swap out accessories to neutralize less desirable colors and also talk to your photographer about your concerns. For example, if that first yellow kitchen had been one belonging to my clients, I would have suggested changing out the curtains to something that neutralized the yellow on the walls. Also changing your light bulbs can have a big impact. As a photographer I know that any color can photograph poorly depending on a number of factors. Oak cabinets and houses with all LED lighting are two of the worst offenders. When I photograph a room with a lot of natural oak in it, I always wind up adjusting the orange out and LED lighting requires blue adjustments. The camera just doesn't see things the way the human eye does and then you throw in the computer screen, and nearly all photos need to be adjusted for color. Any photographer worth their paycheck knows this. So going back to that first photo, I would have changed or removed the curtains, dropped some of the yellow out of the photo during editing, and either staged or virtually staged it with a rug and some beautiful white furniture like that in the second photo. Now you might be thinking, if I can't afford a painter, I can't afford a stager and professional photographer either. It has been my experience that both are less expensive than painters and most of the time, it's actually the listing agent that hires and pays me. FYI
Sherwin Williams agreeable gray works perfect!
I used to work at Lowes in the paint department and agreeable gray was the top seller in paint colors.
Did my whole house in it. Looks more beige than grey to me because it’s warm. Totally transformed the house
@@lisacanary155 I saw more beige too. But, wow, does it look good.
My daughter just sold her house and she has agreeable grey in master. Buyers were climbing over each other to buy her house. The living room and family room and halls were done in a tan
Accessible beige is a griege which leans more beige. I chose it instead because it matched my warm wood floors and brick in my fireplace
The paint color we have gone with the last two times we sold our house was Glidden Antique White. It has some warm rosy undertones that make anything you put with it look good.
$3000, $5000, $10000 for painting??? We paint our own rooms in our homes. That amount of money is crazy. The only thing we have ever paid anyone else to paint was an 18' entryway. The painter complimented our work!
I was thinking the same thing! I can't imagine spending that much to paint. I've always done most to all of the painting in my houses. A couple of times we did hire a painter for some of the more tricky areas, but never spent more than about $1500.
@@suzicqTry 45k
I also think it's too expensive. A normal tradesman shouldn't cost more than $100 an hour. Painters don't have particularly high levels of training, otherwise you wouldn't be able to paint yourself. So if I can paint my bedroom myself in 3 hours, then I'll only offer a tradesman $200 for it plus materials. So how big does the house have to be to justify $3,000?
@Goldzwiebel You can't paint a bedroom yourself in 3 hours. If you have, you butchered it.
I bought a town home & didn't have to change a thing . The color is called Dove gray . It a green gray & complements the golden oak floor perfectly . I know white trim & doors are in , but we always loved natural wood . I don't have to touch up white paint on doors & trim like my daughter . Plus with her dogs windowsills too.
Unfortunately, not all agents have taste. My last agent I love as a person. Our home was fully renovated. Neutral modern contemporary. Calm. Frameless glass 8 ft shower walls. Tasteful. Three neighbors listed in two months, 2 directly across the street beside each other, and the home beside me. They'd been on the market for 2-3 months. Then I listed #4 and questioned my sanity. One day my sweet agent hung a sad old plastic flower wreath on our front door. Had to take it down and hide it lol. Sold in 2 weeks. The others remained listed 2-4- months before an offer. Color choices are crucial.
My home is a combo of contemporary and modern. I had a decorator suggest I paint my bathroom walls and trim all the same color. It was genius! Since it was the bath, I painted everything with semi-gloss. It looks so much less fussy than using two different colors. Next I will be painting my main living area the same color using flat on the walls and semi-gloss on the trim.
That's awesome! Painting everything the same color sounds like a game-changer. Can't wait to see how it turns out in your main living area!
Sherwin-Williams Snow Bound is a nice slightly warm white.
yep!
Excellent video, thank you! I've sold several homes using similar strategies. My current condo is the trickiest. It doesn't get a lot of natural light and has a lot of dull gray areas. Some areas have a distinct green cast from a wall of green trees. Beautiful warm neutrals and off whites read as a sickly light green. If cool greys were still popular, they would work better. I am customizing the color and getting close with a modification of BM Pale Oak.The color needs red/pink undertones to neutralize the green. It's a fun challenge since I have time to figure it out.
Very sorry to see grey is so popular still. Living in Britain we have grey skies most of the year, who would want to add to the depression! Warm off-whites are my favourites, light and bright without being stark. At least black kitchens seem to have fallen out of favour.
I love Grey. Always did and always will
My house is all a soft white, simply white by Benjamin Moore,looks beautiful and photographes well
Love it!!
I'll be the weirdo; I like all of the "dated" pictures better and when I see all of the off whites, I'm just thinking that I'll have to repaint soon. In all seriousness, when I was looking for a house, having colors didn't matter to me unless the colors were very dark or bold. I ended up buying a Craftsman era house, the selling point for me was the all original natural wood stairs and trim, as well as the perfectly outdated 1920's parlor lights in the main room.
Another thing that I believe is very helpful within the lighter and more neutral color palettes of the paint when buyers walk in (apart from their furniture being more likely to be able to work in the home without having to paint it first) is that it is calming and soothing. It's tranquil. Color does impact us - all colors do. So when you walk in and it feels calming, tranquil, relaxing, you get this feeling of it being a good place to call home. It just makes you feel better being in it. You want to feel at peace in your home. You want to feel calm and relaxed....like your own little respite and oasis away from it all. So I actually believe that when the colors in a home that people are viewing causes them to feel that way when they are inside looking around, is very helpful to the cause of selling it. I've seen images of homes in listings that have made me want to not even take the time to go see them and it was mainly due to colors on the walls and - even worse - effing wall paper! OH LORD someone should outlaw that stuff. It is hard to get wall paper off and I will likely not ever buy a home with wall paper on the walls. F the idiots who were dumb enough to put it up in the first place and then be dumb enough to actually list their home with it on the walls - especially when it's obvious they did the house up to the hilt in their decorations. It's one thing if it's an old fixer upper and there was wall paper on the walls from 50 years ago and the whole house has to be redone anyway. But it is another thing when it is obvious the paint and wall paper was done on purpose more recently by the current owners. I honestly would not even likely buy a house with "colors" on the walls. The last thing I want to do when buying a house is have to paint it first before I move in. Hell to the NO.
I’ve been passing over so many condos because of all the gray. Especially the floors! Who wants to live in a newspaper photo?
🙋🏻♀️
Colorforms!😂 Love your advice, thank you!!
So glad!
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White, light greys and light beige my fav colors
That kitchen is not yellow, it's beige!
I understand and appreciate the clip and I'm sure many will relate.
However, our experience was the exact opposite. We sold our house in next to no time and it was brightly painted on the exterior & the interior. It was built in 1930 so has wonderful art deco features. I painted the interior in about 10 different shades of blue, the kitchen was pastel blues & purples, including the vintage doors. The bath room was also brightly painted and I chose bold, complimentary colours, no anemic colours involved! The previous owner painted the kitchen dark brown so stripping the paint off the doors was a Herculean task!
It helps that I paint landscapes so am not afraid to use colours.
I have never been a symphony in beige or white person and the house was an explosion of colour! Teenagers would regularly pose and do selfies on our porch.
We live in an already gray world.
If you really imprint a house with character and the right balance of contrasting colours, the right buyer will be attracted to it as the house exudes something dynamic. That's my 2 cents worth!
Like the lady with a historic house who has used period colours, which I think is really lovely, your 1930 house was built in the jazz age with new distinctive architecture springing up so your bold colours fit right in with that zeitgeist.
Flat, matte or eggshell on wall works great with satin paint trimming. No need for semi or gloss trim.
Barring any unforeseen changes in circumstances like health woes or job loss, we are here for four more years until our youngest finishes high school. In that time, I want to fix three problems on our property. First, we desperately need to landscape the shady front yard. Second, I think we need to add some sort of entryway; currently the entrance has no "landing area" it just drops the guest in the middle of our living room with no front closet or way to transition. Third, the original bungalow was built in 1916, has stained glass windows, built in bookcases, stripped and stained oak moulding, hardwood floors and radiator heat. We put on a second story in 2010 with hardwood flooring, but painted moulding and forced aired heat/ac. So the problem is that it looks and feels like two separate homes, and I need strategies of how to tie it all together, with future buyers in mind. Any advice/books/websites is most welcome.
You may just need to unify the transition from the main level to the upstairs. I wouldn't necessarily remove the original elements if they work. I really like heat from a radiator in the winter. It has a lot of advantages and is a pretty consistent heat source. I don't know why, because I'm not really a fan of wallpaper, but wallpaper going up the staircase might be enough to bring the old and new sections together.
If the living room is big enough, some kind of small room divider may be enough to give some separation and the feel of an entry when people first walk in the front door. It could be a piece of furniture or maybe you could build a partial wall with a decorative element, like an opening where you could hang a piece of stained or leaded glass, or add some other simple feature. You might even be able to create the appearance of an entry hall by putting a small bookcase off to the side of the door where you could keep shoes in baskets, or put other items in baskets to corral things that collect by the door, and then hang a piece of stained glass or a wood and metal art panel or gate directly above it to create the effect of a wall.
Don't have advice for the indoors, but my half of my front yard is completely shaded by a fairly large pink dogwood. Forget grass, and it was too dry to make a moss garden (although I attempted, lol). I now have converted it to bulbs and perennials that look good all summer. I have lily-of-the-vally, several varieties of fern (that self sow to make more, win!!), astilbe, pulmonaria, brunnera, azalea, a fragrant viburnum that just had its bloom, and several varieties of Hosta. I get frequent compliments, and in the hottest weather it feels 10 degrees cooler there. I add in some caladium and impatiens for extra color in the summer.
I saw something that made me think of you today. I've been looking at various ways to create a "brick" 🧱 wall - everything from thin brick, to "brick" paneling, to "bricks" created with joint compound and tape to create the appearance of brick were recommended to me: one was wall stamping, which is similar to stenciling but you are actually rolling your paint on a stamp that gets applied to the wall vs stippling the paint in the openings of a design on a plastic stencil.
But the idea I had for you was along the lines of the wallpaper idea without the long-term commitment to wallpaper. I think people who would be interested in your home would likely be people initially drawn to the elements unique to the period when your home was built. In the past, wallpaper was popular and could be viewed as a status element in a home, but for a lot of people in recent years, wallpaper was a bit of a turn off because it could be so difficult to remove. If you like wallpaper, you could add that to one wall of the staircase, which could add visual interest, particularly if it's on a wall that faces into the living room or some other room. If it's an L-shaped staircase with a couple of steps and a small landing that has a small wall that is defined by the staircase that could also be wallpapered, and there are removable wall papers now too, so that could be a selling point to potential buyers who are wallpaper-shy.
What I thought of today, though, was stenciling the main wall of the staircase. Depending on how tall the ceiling is going up to the second floor, it could be a challenge, but there are so many types of wall stencils now, and some are quite large and can create a lot of impact, even mimicking the appearance of wallpaper. There are a lot of styles to choose from: geometrics, damask, etc., and they look different depending on the paint colors used. Following along the lines of the discussion from the video about paint colors that make your home sell better, going with a lighter colored wall in one of the suggested shades and a barely there coordinating stencil color in a similar color family that's just a little darker could be interesting. Think of a very light gray or creamy white with a subtle French gray or other light greige stencil design. It could be any color though. Then you could bring the new addition and the original structure of the home together by just having a few randomly placed stencils on a wall or walls in the hallway on the second floor. Think of it like blowing on a silver dandelion where you blow on it, and you have cluster of heavily concentrated seeds at first, and as they are picked up on the air currents, you just see a couple random ones here and there as they float upwards. It could be an interesting look that unifies the old and the new that, if done well, could be an unobtrusive way to achieve your goal without immediately being interpreted as "work" or a built-in expense to potential buyers.
A similar take on that concept that I've seen which trends towards the more dramatic involves the use of darker paint colors and stenciling with a higher gloss paint over a matte finish paint, which is also an interesting look. One of the most stunning interpretations of this idea that I've seen was a black front entry hall with a trellis design stencil with black glossy paint on a black matte paint background and a contrasting white wainscoting treatment on the wall below it. THAT is a look someone goes for because they love it, though, and not as part of a plan to boost its appeal to potential buyers. Anyway, there you have it: an idea for your consideration and maybe a jumping off point for other ideas! Wishing you success and happiness wherever life takes you!
Black entry hall picture here:
www.royaldesignstudio.com/products/moorish-trellis-wall-stencil
I tried to add more examples of what I was talking about, but for whatever reason, it was censored. The site that linked in my previous comment has a lot of examples of different stencil types, and there are other sites with different designs as well, including wall stamps, which are very similar. I don't even know if any of that interests you, or what your style is, but it's an option you can consider. 🙂
@@charmc4152 Thank you so much! very helpful ideas to begin working on.
I've been using Revere Pewter in homes where I've lived for over 30 years. It goes with everything, and it's not boring like off white.
Love that also
I love edgecomb grey
I LOVE those flowers behind you!
Thank you so much! I'm glad you like them.
As a buyer, I walk into the white kitchen and I see a HOSPITAL with no sense of color.
All white in kitchens is boring. They could use accent colors to give it some pop without spending a lot of money.
Exactly. But it is easy to paint over
I painted my house Edgecomb Gray with White Dove Trim. I sold it in 5 days for asking price that was 25,000 over what everybody told me I could get. Your advice to go neutral is correct.
Also, every house I’ve looked at recently has the warm cabinets with cold gray walls and floors. I groan every time! What were they thinking!?
Same! I’m like, what the heck are they thinking?
I totally agree! If you don't feel confident about being able to identifying cool and warm tones, go to your local paint dealer and ask them to give you some samples of cool and warm tones, then when you go into your own home, with its own lighting, you can compare whether you have warm or cool tones on the walls or in the decor generally....and then you can adjust it accordingly!
We call it totalitarian gray. This trend has taken hold because of the dystopian times we are living in. I don't know how much the people paid for fresh gray paint in the house we bought just under three years ago, but the first order of business was to get some color on the walls. Dreary is not what we want in home sweet home. May this trend end quickly.
Yes, these dystopian times do have a subliminal effect if you follow the news. And men, for some reason, seem to love grey and black - perhaps they are affected by the times more than women!